Spotlight On Scott E. Lundmark, Adventure Golf Services

We spoke to Scott E. Lundmark of Adventure Golf Services about the key challenges of designing for the cruise market, which project he's most proud of, and the top cruise design trends of 2018.

Hi Scott. Can you tell us about your current role and key responsibilities?

As President and Chief Operation Officer, I help create short and long-term business strategies as well as sales initiatives. I also run the day-to-day operations and oversee financial controls and where to invest.

What inspired you to join the company?

I grew up in the industry and have a passion for our products and markets that we try to develop.

What project are you particularly proud of and why?

Every project is important but one in particular resonates with me: RCCL – Oasis 2008 - ‘09 – because this was my first ship project and one where I really tried to learn our system and see how it works extremely well for the cruise ship environment. This was a larger space compared to what we had been doing in the past at the time. It was one of the first cruise ship projects where we started using some basic theme elements. I think this was really a springboard for our company where we have now morphed into a key supplier for many cruise ship clients with new products beyond mini golf such as game courts, SplashGolf and now are working on more modular products that can be moved to allow clients to utilize the same space for other activities…this is important as real estate on a cruise ship is a premium.

What do you need to consider when designing?

The design side is led up by my father, Arne Lundmark, CEO & Chief Designer. Clearly, we consider the available space designated by the client. However, there are other considerations such as budget, ship demographics…is it primarily families with kids or older retirees? As the industry expands the globe and our client base expands, we now have cultural attributes to consider. We always look to optimize guest flow of foot traffic, accessibility in terms of wheel chair access, safety and many other variables can come into play.

Speaking of play, we have design considerations of the game itself. This is important, so our products are fun to play for all ages and people want to come back to play again. For mini golf, this translates into the playability of the game…making it interactive. Our design philosophy is: Choice, Chance and Challenge.

Choice – more than one way from tee to green or hole cup.

Chance – a chance for something to happen…perhaps the ball rolls through a theme prop such as a turtle…and the ball has a chance to roll back to the player or perhaps a chance for a hole-in-one.

Challenge – the mini golf course needs to be fun for all ages…which means challenging for the avid golfer but easy enough to the young child to have an equal chance to beat mom/dad or grandma/grandpa.

Are there any key opportunities or challenges your company faces at present?

I believe there are many opportunities for AGS in the cruise ship sector. We believe we can create and deliver on new opportunities by being creative and innovative relative to our products and looking for new products and new way of doing things. As I mentioned earlier, more and more cruise ships are interested in using the same space for multiple activities. We are looking at modular/movable mini golf and games along with the high-tech side of things such as virtual reality and digital mapping for indoor experience with lighting and sound effects.

Can you tell us about top cruise interior design trends of 2018?

Two trends on the opposite end of the spectrum – modular/moveable items as I mentioned. The polar opposite with certain clients is the bigger the better, they want more “wow” factor in terms of appearance and experience.

Who are you looking to meet and what do you hope to achieve at Cruise Ship Interiors Expo 2019?

We are always looking for new clients across the globe and to enhance our existing relationships. I think it would be nice to learn more about how we can work and do business in China as this seems to be a little more complex with trading companies, etc.